DETROIT (AP) — Nature's oven was on high Tuesday for millions of people in the Midwest and Great Lakes states as intense heat and humidity baked the regions with no immediate relief before the misery shifts to the eastern U.S.
The National Weather Service was blunt: Conditions were “dangerous” as the heat index, a combination of air temperature and humidity, exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) in some areas. It warned about a risk for heat-related illnesses, especially among people without air conditioning.
Detroit's air temperature was in the high 90s, the Weather Service said, and could even reach 100 at some point through Thursday. The city said a dozen recreation centers were open, some until 11 p.m., for people to cool off. Big chunks of Michigan, as well as Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and much of Iowa, were under an extreme heat warning.
The Northeast, including New York City and Boston, will next feel major heat through the Fourth of July holiday. Norristown, Pennsylvania, 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Philadelphia, canceled a Saturday parade because of the weather.
The Chicago History Museum offered free admission to state residents who wanted a cool space Tuesday. Roads in a few places in Illinois buckled under the heat. When the surface has no room to expand in the heat, it can rise and crack.
At 9:15 a.m., window washer Stephen Mason, 72, was wiping mayflies off glass at a Detroit convenience store. He got an early start to avoid the worst conditions of the day, but it was already 85 (29.4 C).
“It's the only way to beat it. But it's already starting to cook out here,” Mason said.
Adam Schubatis, 36, a runner who was shirtless in Detroit's Indian Village neighborhood, said he was cutting his route to 6 miles (9.6 kilometers).
“I know where all the drinking fountains are,” he said. “My wife thought I was crazy. She offered to pick me up if I got tired or if there was anything I was doing that wasn't safe.”
In Milwaukee, more than 100 firefighters spent hours controlling a fire at a school in the extreme heat. Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said crews were rotating and shedding their thick coats while they rehydrated.
George Liller, 64, was a hero in Grosse Pointe Park, a Detroit suburb. He added air conditioning to his home, so he offered a window unit for free on Facebook — extension cord and remote control included.
“It was probably on my porch maybe 15 minutes,” Liller said. “That air conditioner was given to me. I thought, ‘Somebody needs it.’ I know how it feels to be in an old house when it’s this hot.”
Associated Press reporters Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H., contributed.
People cool off in a fountain during hot weather Monday, June 29, 2026, in Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Visitors walk past the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
People cool their feet in the fountain at the WWII Memorial, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.
The justices said Tuesday they will hear appeals challenging bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and the Chicago area.
Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings. States have also continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.
It is the latest high-profile dispute over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.
Arguments are expected to be heard in the fall.
The Connecticut law was passed after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The state says the guns are a preferred weapon of mass shooters, and they can be banned because they are similar to military-grade weapons.
“These laws are critical public safety measures, and they are consistent with the Second Amendment," said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at the gun-control group Everytown Law.
Gun rights groups, on the other hand, argue it’s unconstitutional to ban semiautomatic rifles, which are legally owned by millions of Americans.
“The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it’s hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn’t meet that standard,” said Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation.
Four conservative justices on the nine-member court, enough to grant review of a case, had signaled that it was only a matter of time before the court took up the issue.
The ban in Cook County, Illinois, was first passed in 1993. Lower courts have upheld both laws.
“If the Second Amendment does not protect the most popular rifles in the country, it is hard to see how it protects any firearms at all,” aside from handguns kept in the home, the challengers wrote.
Attorneys for Cook County, on the other hand, say the measure does pass constitutional muster. "The trauma that assault weapon massacres have inflicted on the public at large has been staggering,” they wrote.
The Supreme Court backed Second Amendment rights in two cases this term, striking down gun carry restrictions in Hawaii and a broad federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users. They've previously upheld some restrictions, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having guns.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
A group prays outside of the Supreme Court ahead of the court's ruling on whether transgender girls and women can play on school athletic teams, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
